Customer Reviews

Biochemistry (Biochemistry (Berg))

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm halfway through a biochemistry course using this book (Edition 6).

I care about textbooks. Some really go the extra mile to make concepts accessible and memorable. Not this book.

Berg et al are the opposite of exciting. They fail to provide emphasis and perspective that would help concepts stick. Read Richard Feynman's Physics series to see what exciting teaching is all about. He understands what is amazing and what deserves special treatment, use of analogies, etc.

Berg et al use a very stodgy dry style, I think in an effort to avoid saying anything wrong, which is admirable. Feynman on the other hand is not afraid to make lively oversimplifications, and warns you he is, in order to get the basic concept across. Then he slowly develops the concept to a more sophisticated level, sometimes leaving the original model behind, but that's OK because you take an intuitive path similar to the original scientists discovering the concepts.

Berg et al on the other hand insist on a kind of "top-down" approach where often a subject is introduced with sentences thick with generalizations that make no sense (or only vague sense) until more specific examples or detail is developed later. A little top-down is ok if it is simple and gives you a roadmap. Berg et al do it heavy-handedly, often using terms which have not been defined, leaving you to thumb wildly through previous chapters wondering if you missed something.

Top-down explanations are very appealing to writers who already know the material thoroughly. A best-kept-secret of teaching though is that bottom-up explanations (start with building blocks and work up to complex concepts) is really how powerful learning takes place. It's how the concepts were developed in the first place; it's how we learned in kindergarten.

To be fair, my organic (and inorganic) chemistry background is weak, as perhaps with many biology students. Berg et al assume you know chemistry thoroughly, and that is understandable. But aside from that, the language and writing style is simply dense, dry, and requires you pay close attention to each word in the sentence so you don't misinterpret what is being said. Again, compare it to Feynman's writing. The concepts are not easy in his books, but you really feel caught up in his explanations.

Using Berg/Stryer is exhausting, not what I admire in a textbook. I encourage students to make frequent trips to the index, as quick visits to later chapters may very well help you understand an earlier chapter better (for instance tRNA mechanisms). Or just read it back to front, it might flow better that way :) By the way, I agree with other reviewers that criticize the index as being mediocre (does not indicate where the prime definition of terms are), and in general the authors do not seem to understand the importance of defining terms clearly and emphatically prior to referencing them.

I think often reviewers that give favorable reviews to books such as this already know the material so of course the sentences full of generalizations and undefined terms make perfect sense. However, the true value of a textbook is careful organization, defining of terms, making distinctions, building up of concepts out of simpler ideas, demystifying convoluted concepts, highlighting what is important, and clearly pointing out when simplified results of non-obvious concepts are employed (such as reaction rates, equilibrium constants). This book gets low grades for that kind of teaching.

On the other hand, I've noticed that most biochemistry books just blast you with new substances, sentence after sentence, with little substantiating or clarifying logic, as if you are on a memorization marathon; so I can't suggest a better single alternative at this time. Someone needs to write a book with the approach of imparting a usable set of knowledge with some kind of theme (such as understanding mechanisms to fight cancer). Perhaps the field is just so vast that one must wade in hip deep and muck around for several years until some light begins to dawn. I would like to believe a good book can be written with a building block approach.

The book does get high grades for excellent summaries at the ends of the chapters and additional (but I've seen more) references. The authors take their duties very seriously to present correct and accurate information. They are just not the most gifted writer-teachers to come along. Actually, I should say not the most gifted "communicators", as they are highly competent writers, which in a way works against them. I will say it is a pleasure to find authors who use the word "comprise" correctly - kudos for that!

As I reach the end of the course, which covered about 2/3 of the book, my opinion has not changed. Reading the book is tough sledding for me and I'm digging into basic chemistry, organic chemistry, and even physical chemistry (to better understand free energy concepts) to really get a feel for what drives these biochemical processes. I also am realizing that one probably would benefit greatly from some cellular biology to get a perspective on the metabolic processes described in this book. The mechanisms seem to appear magically out of nowhere, as if in a vacuum. I think real understanding will involve delving more into why certain things don't happen, how the processes are controlled, where the processes happen, etc.

I can't overly criticize the presentation until I find a better alternative (but I have already been exposed to too much to look with fresh eyes again) -- perhaps the subject is just so incredibly vast that it requires many, many rereadings and additional texts -- but I just feel there must be a better way to make the concepts stick in an introductory book. It is a matter of style as well as organization.

By the way, a book whose style I find pretty good is:

Modern Physical Organic Chemistry
by Eric V. Anslyn; Dennis A. Dougherty (Author)

You can feel them trying to communicate. I have an old Morrison & Boyd organic chemistry textbook whose introductory chapters on stereoisomers, I feel, really developed the ideas from the ground up nicely.

I am currently enrolled in an undergraduate biochemistry course and have been for about two months. So far (the first 15 chapters), I am very pleased with the textbook. Most explanations are clear, and the illustrations are usually helpful. Also, there are asides that link concepts to real world applications that are interesting. But, I wish the protein chapters included a more comprehensive coverage of motifs.

Finally a science author who realizes who he is writing his book for! All the information is there and you don't have to decipher a bunch of technical lingo and "intellectual discussion" to get it. I can sit down and read the text without a whole lot of effort and learn everything I need to know for my class. Definitely the book to get if you are in an undergrad BioChem class.

I first discovered Stryer's biochemistry book as an undergraduate back in 1978.

Our course was using the venerable Lehinger biochemistry book which is written at the graduate level.

I made it through the course with and "A" average, but really needed to learn more about applicable biochemistry.

Stryer's book made the subject more accessible. It is easier to read, well illustrated, and succinct.

After reading and studying this book I was able to test out of the biochemistry course in dental school.

Only you can decide for yourself which book is the easiest from which to learn, but I've recommended and loaned my original book to several people both at the undergraduate and graduate level, all of whom remarked how helpful it was.

The book wasn't described in detail on how it/the pages looked at all, but I honestly didn't care what it looked like, so long as it was for a cheap price. I got this book for a steal (20 $, free 2-day shipping). My class asked for the 7th edition, but I did my research: this book is exactly the same as the newer edition that came out in 2010, and I was not about ready to pay ~$150.00 for a book I'll be using for 16 weeks. The person who had this book before me didn't know how to use a highlighter all too well, because every other sentence is highlighted in that neon yellow color, but if I "read my way around it," it's not a bad book at all. I'm a little nervous for this course. I'm very interested in biochemistry and organic chemistry, but a person doesn't know how much information one needs to know until you actually take the class. I've gotten A's in both courses of organic. We'll see how this amazing class goes, with this spectacular book, of course!

This is the blue cover Sixth edition, 2006. You probably want the grey cover Seventh, Dec 2010.

An excellent tome that provides a great reference.

I also recommend
Pollard & Earnshaw, Cell Biology, which has very good graphic design; and
Clark & Russell, Molecular Biology made simple and fun, which uses prolific humor to keep the reader engaged.

good book, but I think not as good as principle of biochemistry, less content, but our professor want this as our book

This book is the textbook I had to buy for my Biochemistry class. I find myself relying more on the book to learn concepts which the professor introduced during lecture. This book is highly detailed in terms of definition and examples, although sometimes it may get too detailed. Those extra details sometimes aren't worth studying for because they will not likely be on the midterms or the final exams.

Honestly for a Biochem text this one is the best that I have seen. It is pretty straightforward. Yea its dry but at least its written in a mildly understandable way.

I have the third edition, which I bought in 1988, It has the answer to life, and the maintenance of health and youth hidden within its pages, both physical and mental health.

If you can read and fully understand this book in relation to the biochemistry in your own cells, of the body which it goes into great detail you will be able to stay the same weight and never fall prey to modern diseases, because you have to apply this biochemical knowledge into what you eat and take in as nutrition for those cells.

Those lucky readers who make the connection, either as medical people or biochemists or dentists will be approached by their colleagues saying, How do you do it. The answers are in this book.

All nutrition derives from biochemistry, Supply the necessary substrates to the cell and you keep the cell functioning, Bodies are made up of millions of cells, supply the necessary nutrition to the cells of all the body and the body will preserve itself for much longer.

It has taken me 20 years to reopen this book but not before time. It has a famous line in it that is a warning to everyone who listens to the healthy eating message

It is a well known fact that all carbohydrates are turned into sugar by the body and its biochemical processes.

The immortal line in Stryer is that Excess sugar in the body is turned into Cholesterol.

The next time your doctor exhorts you to eat more carbs of whatever ilk to keep your cholesterol down you can challenge him with that line from his own biochemistry book.

You may get a look of pure horror or disbelief but you can go tell him to read it in Stryer. He will not have read it in Medical school because your doctors are told to ignore certain chapters as I was at medical school.

I reopened it and looked and reread it all. I was horrified.